Where are you going, Tacloban?

Regional center.

But not much happening here!

Sunday 18 February

In Lara, it is 40 degrees, or 10 Fahrenheit. That is hot. there is also a gusty dry wind from the dirction of the inland deserts. The small dams and water hioles have all dried up. Farmers have had to reduce the numbers of livestock. The beauty of Australia is a harsh beauty. There are no typhoons in the Southern corner of Australia. But as the Summer heat recedes, there are storms of wind and rain from the frozen South.
In between these extremes, the climate is temperate. Not tropical.

Aileen called to say hello. She is feeling better today. An empty sensation inside, but the first day when she has not been feeling constantly sick. Yesterday she arrived home with the lime green material for the bridesmaids' dresses.
Here is an example of one of her text messages in the last few days :

When I feel so empty within
like how I feel now,
I stare at your pictures
wishing ur here.
Really I miss you so much
my James.
Am feeling so sad now!
Need u!

Saturday 17 February 2007

The story so far
is that last Sunday Aileen did a test which proved positive. Pregnancy. Conceived between January 7 and 24. On January 10, we got engaged, and had arranged a wedding at Santa Rita on 8 April. the pregnancy came as a surprise.

On Tuesday Ai visited a gynaeclogist and was shown an image of the miniature embryo, and given a fortified milk, medecine to support the pregnancy and asked to take more rest. She struggled through the week overwhelmed by lassitude, day-long sickness and a constant headache. On Friday she got to work for the first time in aweek, and the staff looked anxious now that the carefree wedding is burdened with the risks of pregnacy and of a foreigner who may just disappear as so many do. - but I shall not disappear!

Saturday - a rainy, cool, Saturday in the central-southern Philippines, Aileen managed the long bus ride to the city of Tacloban. After two hours on webcam with me, in which i took these rather distorted images, she met with friends DANGIE and LEMUEL, to select lime green fabric for the bridesmaids' dresses Then they settled in Jolibee for a burger.
Aileen said her friends noticed the difference, instead of "SMART Aileen", they found this tired looking, run down, yucky Aileen, struggling not to throw up, and untidy. There is a slight filling out of the face and breasts already after a mere 5 weeks approx. The other picture shows her as in january, looking sleek.

Friday 16 February 2007

From active and fit
to
lethargic and prone to vomitting,
with a constant headache,
unable to face normal food,
drinking a strange concentrated milk ...

Ai has been suffering badly this week
and has been unable to attend her office at santa Rita most days.
She valiantly forced herself to attend today, friday,
and was met with anxious comments from the others....

Pregnancies vary from person to person,
and it is hard to tell how long this nauseous early stage will last.

The wedding day is 8 April,
and everyone will know she is some three months pregnant.

Too bad!
We made our marriage commitment in january,
before realising Ai was pregnant...

Mummy and Daddy !

Just received a text message! [Yes folks, you may expect to receive all the vital communications by text ...] It reads :

"Hi hon

congratulations !!!

u now a daddy.

Wow, I don't know how i feel!

My hands r cold knowing it's positive."

Sunday February 11, 2007

Kangaroos at Lara!.... 65KM south-West of the big city of Melbourne, the start of the Western Plains that go for ever. This dry country with vast open spaces.

And above that, you see James on the aircraft from Manila to Tacloban. A BAC 320 I think, of Cebu Pacific. Above that, the aircraft sitting on the tarmac at Tacloban, seconds before I met Aileen. -----

Aileen thinks she may be pregnant.

There is the delay, the constant headache, the drowsiness, the sensations and firmness of the breasts.

She is taking a test this morning.

If she is pregnant, we hope the baby will be born in Australia in October-November.
- It will be a surprise.
We took no precautions and were hoping that eventually a pregnancy would occur
But we did not expect anything as soon as this.

I have not attempted to dicttate to Aileen.
For her part, she has acknowledged our mutual need to enjoy time together before the complication of parenting.
For each of us, this would be our first child.
Possibly we would place the child for a year or two with Aileen's parents.

So just as i waited endlessly yesterday when Ai travelled on her usual saturday shopping trip to
Tacloban, and bought a pregnancy testing kit, hoping she would do he test urgently, so I am now waitin this morning. - the time difference during Australian daylight saving time, is 3 hours.

Am I happy if it is a pregnancy?
Sure!
I had considered myself too old to have a child, so.... it is good!
An expression of love.

After meeting Aileen on exchanges over the internet in September, we have actually fallen in love. Not just for my looks! Not just for hers either! But something deep.

Wedding

At 2pm on 8 April 2007 at the Church of Santa Rita, on the island of Samar!